1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of generating an information page in a computing system and also to a computing system arranged to generate such a page.
2. Description of Related Art
In a presently known method of generating an information page in a computing system which has a database, a search is performed on the database to extract a set of data items which are then inserted into a fixed template to create an information page. This method has the disadvantage that it is difficult to produce variations in the layout and format of the information pages which are created.
According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of generating an information page in a computer system, said computing system including a database stored on said computer system, said database comprising a set of templates and a set of data tables each of which contains a set of data items, said method comprising the steps of selecting a first order template, performing a search on said database using at least one input parameter to retrieve a set of data items, selecting at least one second order template, the or each second order template being subordinate to the first order template, and creating an information page containing the data items retrieved in the search, the first order template defining the overall format of the information page, and the or each second order template defining the format of an associated part of the information page.
The method of this invention has the advantage that it provides flexibility in the layout and format of the information pages which are created and an improvement in the visual impact of the individual pages.
Preferably, in said step of selecting at least one second order template, the or each second order template is selected by using control information contained in one of said tables.
The method may also include the step of selecting at least one third order template, the or each third order template being subordinate to an associated second order template, the or each third order template defining the format of a portion of a part of the information page defined by its associated second order template.
Preferably, the parameters used to retrieve said set of data items are obtained from an input command entered by a user of said computer system and control information contained in the said first order template.
Preferably, said data tables include a first table containing data items belonging to a first class of information, a second table containing data items belonging to a second class of information, and a third table linking data items in the first table with data items in the second table.
In one embodiment of the invention, said database contains data on a set of related products or services, and the information page contains a set of data items relating to one of said products or services.
According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided a computer system for generating an information page, said computer system including a database stored on said computer system, said database comprising a set of templates and a set of data tables each of which contains a set of data items, said computer system being arranged to perform the operations of select a first order template, perform a search on said database using at least one input parameter to retrieve a set of data items, select at least one second order template, the or each second order template being subordinate to the first order template, and create an information page containing the data items retrieved in the search, the first order template defining the overall format of the information page, and the or each second order template defining the format of an associated part of the information page.